Tifaifai

Patchwork came to Tahiti, as it did to most of the South Pacific,
through the efforts of European and American missionaries. Patchwork
bed-coverings in this part of the world are known as tifaifai. They are
not quilts in the strict sense as they have no middle batting layer and
are not quilted.

Tifaifai Snowflakes

breadfruit tifaifai pa'oti

Tifaifai are dazzling needlework pictures. They may be constructed in the “snowflake”
style of Hawaiian quilts, but with the motif folded in fourths, rather
than eighths during construction. Or, they may be made in a shimmery mosaic
style of hundreds of tiny colorful squares. Tahitians, like Hawaiians and
other Polynesian peoples, traditionally had no woven cloth. Like the
Hawaiians, they wore tapa – a cloth pounded from bark and decorated,
that disintegrated in water. They were introduced to quilting and
patchwork by missionary women.

mosaic tifaifai pu

Kinds of Tifaifai

Tifaifai in progress.
Photo by Annie-Claude Peyre

Appliqué tifaifai or tifaifai pa'oti are similar to Hawaiian
snowflake-style designs. Traditional colors are red on white or white on
green, but today, many color combinations are used.

Pieced tifaifai pu is characterized
by tiny geometric shapes, often squares, each as small as 1" wide. Some
tifaifai pu are reminiscent of a geometric mosaic or the Trip Around the
World pattern. Others are more like mosaic pictures, reminiscent of the
charted designs used to create needlepoint. Find out more about making tifaifai.